


Grown on Me

by Justanotherorange



Category: Eddsworld - All Media Types
Genre: Amnesia, Hanahaki Disease, How Do I Tag, M/M, Mild Gore, Rated teen for language, Slow Burn, Slow To Update, Tord Redemption, TordMatt - Freeform, as in they dont do the diddy 1st chapter, eddtom is mostly backgroud/implied, ew hanahaki au, he doesnt remember tord oH WELL, im a lazy piece of shit lmao, k i n d o f, kinda not really tho, matt has memory issues, mattord, they cough up flower petals what'd you expect, tordmatt centric, whatever counts as slow burn to you man idk
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-03-03
Updated: 2019-03-03
Packaged: 2019-11-08 21:22:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,232
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17988740
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Justanotherorange/pseuds/Justanotherorange
Summary: Matt though the'd seen the last of the crimson petals that fluttered from his mouth the day Tord left.Then he returned.This was going to be fun.





	Grown on Me

**Author's Note:**

> Because this fandom needs more tordmatt. BE THE RAREPAIR FIC WRITER YOU WISH YOU HAD.  
> Inspired by this: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6560686  
> Also i read fics, not wrte them, so thequality isn't the best lmao. Also this was originally posted to amino, so let me know if you spot a format mistake.

“So wait, let me get this straight, you started coughing after coming in from break, right Tord?”

The small child nodded.

The Nurse raised an eyebrow at him. “You were bullying Matt again, weren’t you?”

Tord scoffed in protest. “I don’t bully him!”

“Tord you kicked his sandcastle over just last week.”

“Cause I was trying to help him by showing how I can make a better one, duh! It’s not _my_ fault Tom got all annoyed about it,” he grumbled.

The Nurse rolled her eyes. “You know Tord, you can just… _ask_ Matt to be friends with him.”

He frowned, sticking his lip out. “But that’s lame! You don’t just ASK people to be friends. And besides,” he pouted, and kicked his chair. “Why would he wanna be friends with a bully like me?”

The Nurse smiled understandingly, and patted his head. “Maybe give it a try? It can’t go that badly. Anyway, you can go home since you aren’t feeling well. I trust you’ll go to the office with no problem?”

Tord nodded, leaving the room.

“Geez, what kid wrote this report?” She muttered from behind him. “Said he was coughing up flowers. Honestly, imagination these days…”

He closed the door behind him, holding the yellow note in his hand. He sighed, wiping his mouth. He wanted to tell her about the petals, but knew that she’d think he was a freak, or that he was lying. He supposed maybe it was some kind of strange illness. For some reason, it had only started when he was around-

_“Tord!”_

The boy in question blinked in surprise, turning around to the source of the voice. “ _Matt_?”

True to his guess, the redhead stood there, hands on knees and panting heavily. “Edd told me that apparently you were spewing up flowers or something, and I came to see you!”

“H-huh?” Tord’s cheeks began to heat up, as he began to get flustered. “You idiot, right in the middle of class! You’re gonna get in trouble! Why’d you wanna do that for? Don’t you hate me?”

“Hate…you?” Matt blinked in confusion, tilting his head to the side. “Why would I do that? I _like_ you!”

“… _ **huh**_?”

“Yeah! I mean you always come over and destroy all my stuff and tell me how much better you are at everything! It’s ‘cause you want me to be proud of you right?”

“…”

“And I think you’re pretty awesome! I mean, you always get _reeeeally_ good grades, even though you never talk about it much. You’re too cool to wanna hang with me though…” he mumbled.

“But I wanna be friends!” Tord quickly interjected, perhaps a bit too enthusiastically.

Now it was Matt’s turn to be confused.

“I-I mean…would you wanna be friends with me? I guess you aren’t that bad, you’re uh….actually kind of alright yourself.”

“Really?!” Matt’s eyes sparkled.

“Really.”

Tord smiled, before breaking out into a fit of coughs. He looked up to see Matt gazing at him tearfully.

“W-what happened to-”

Matt suddenly rushed over, wrapping his arms around the boy in a tight hug. “I’m sorry, it’s all my fault!”

“Wh-! Hey, calm down! How the heck is it your fault?!”

“Because!” Matt reached into his coat pocket and withdrew a bunch of purple petals. “It’s all my fault! I was doing that petal picking thing you see in the movies, hoping you’d be my friend, and it must have made you sick! I’m sorry flower god! Spare Tord, take me instead!”, he wailed, throwing them into the air.

Tord gently pushed Matt off him as petals fell around them. “Calm down Matt, I’m fine. See? I can barely feel anything!”

Matt gasped. “Are you really better now?”

He nodded. “Yeah!”

Matt beamed. “Great!”

Suddenly a voice sounded from the corridor. “Mr Hairgraves?”

Matt paled. “Uh oh. I gotta go! See ya Tord!”

Waving him off, Tord gave a small smile. He realised something, and reached for his throat.

The flowers had stopped.

 

-

 

“Woah, sorry!”

“Oi, look where you’re going kid.”

“S-sure thing Mister…uh…” Matt looked up, to see two hairy eyebrows, floating above a pair of eyes glaring at him. He squeaked. This guy was _way_ too intimidating.

“Ay Paul, quit scaring my friends would ya?” Matt turned around at the sound of the familiar voice, a smile crossing his face.

“Tord! You know this guy?”

“Unfortunately, _yes_ ,” the aforementioned teenager scoffed, walking over to the two. He took the cigarette that he’d been smoking out of his mouth, and puffed it straight into Paul’s face; he didn’t flinch.

“I thought I told ya to quit smoking those,” the older man nagged. “They’re bad for your health.”

“Says you! _You’re_ the one that bought me these!”

“Ah I remember it like it was yesterday…” Paul hummed, a fond look on his face.

“It  _was_ yesterday Paul.”

“Wait really? Man I’m getting old…”

“You’re only two years older…”

“Yeah, so don’t you forget it!” Paul grabbed Tord by the shoulder, and began dragging his knuckles through the mop of (dyed) near-black hair, much to the protest of the other.

Matt felt something settle in his chest, though he couldn’t quite explain what. He looked on with amusement nonetheless.

“Get off'a me old man!”

“Shut yer trap! Anyway, like I was saying, it don’t matter if you smoke around me, but not when we got company,” he gestured to Matt.

“He doesn’t mind! Right Matt?”

“Oh, I’m totally fi-”, as if on cue, the redhead began coughing, as he hunched over, feeling a stirring in his lungs, and something scratching the back of his throat. Paul and Tord stopped what they were doing, looking at him with concern.

“Hey man, you okay?”

“Yeah, fine,” Matt choked, tears beginning to prick behind his eyes as he shook. “This isn’t your fault, I think I’m coming down with something. I was just on my way home.”

Tord continued to scrunch his brow in concern. “You started coughing pretty badly too. Want a lift?”

“No!” Matt answered, much too quickly. “I-I mean, it’s fine. No need for the trouble!” He gave a shaky grin. “I’ll jus-”, he suddenly hacked again, holding a hand to his mouth.

His eyes trailed down to his palm, and he paled considerably, something Tord took notice of. “Matt? What’s wron-”

“Thanks anyway for the offer Tord!” Matt cut him off, “Then, see ya around!” He turned on his heel and hurried off, not giving Tord much time to answer. He considered maybe running after him, but the sound of the class bell quickly dismissed that thought.

“Well,” he sighed, getting ready to leave, concern lacing his voice, “guess I’ll ask him what’s up later or something.”

“Hold up,” Paul held a hand out in front of him, bending down to pick something up off the floor. “Your friend dropped something.”

Tord looked at him with confusion, “what is it?”

“I think it’s….a rose petal?”

“Huh? Are you saying Matt dropped it? But that’s weird, he wasn’t holding any flowers though. You sure it’s his?”

“…’m sure,” muttered Paul, studying the crimson petal, red as a drop of fresh blood. “Hey, you mind if I take this?”

Tord shot him a strange look. “No? You’re acting kinda weird y'know. It’s just a petal, geez.”

Paul hummed. “Yeah, you’re right…..say, have you seen Pat anywhere?”

“Listen I don’t know man, ok. I’m gonna get my ass done in from Hardbrow if I’m late again, you know this. I’ll see you around, yeah?”

“Yeah.”

Tord left, but Paul remained staring at the small object. His expression turned troubled.

“I wonder if this was the thing Pat was tellin’ me about the other day. It’s gotta be a coincidence but…”

 

-

 

Matt dashed into the boys’ toilets, slamming the door shut behind him. He leaned his body up against the side of the cubicle, his face going red. He hacked, and once again, could feel something worming up the back of his throat and out of his mouth. He slammed a hand against his mouth, but it seemed to do nothing.

“Wh-what is this-?” He gasped, tears pricking behind his eyes, and his body wracked with shudders as he looked down.

The petals lay on his hand.

“I don’t understand,” he practically sobbed. “What- what’s _happening_ to me?”

He violently coughed again, slipping against the wall, and his knees falling to the cold surface of the floor. They stung badly, but he couldn’t find it in him to care, as he hovered over the edge of the toilet, gripping onto the sides so tightly his knuckles went white.

He stayed like that for a while, until the burning in his chest and lungs and throat settled down. He pushed himself up, swaying more then a little as the blood rushed from his head. He steadied himself, before heading back out again.

' _I don’t understand_ ’, he thought to himself. ' _Just what the actual fuck is going on?! I’ve never heard of a sickness like this. If only there was someone who could explai-_ ’

He was cut off from his thoughts as he (once again) bumped into something, which let out an “ _oof_ ” from above him. He immediately drew back. “ _Ohmygosh I’m so sorry_ -”

“Geez kid, you’ve gotta stop bumping into me.”

Matt blinked. “Paul? And….?”

“This is my buddy Pat. Pat, meet Matt!” He snickered. “Hehe that rhymes.”

The other rolled his eyes. “For the last time, it’s Pat _ryck_. So,” he stared at Matt in a way that made him feel like he was being examined. “You’re Matt huh?”

Matt felt a growing irritation. “ _No_ , I’m just his identical twin brother”. (Not that having an identical twin seemed like a bad idea).

Patryck stared at him. “Save the snark will you? Paul already told me about your…..condition.”

Matt paled. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Yes, you do. Correct me if I’m wrong, but people don’t exactly go to the doctors explaining that they chuck up flower petals, now do they?”

“I….” Matt was growing increasingly nervous now. He just wanted to get out of here. “I have to go.”

They tried to stop him, but he dashed out of their way. He didn’t want to sit there and listen to how much of a freak he was. Although, as he pushed past the doors of the school’s entrance, he could have sworn he heard Patryk yell, “Hanahaki” after him.

_'Hanahaki? What’s that?'_

 

_-_

 

The next day saw Matt lying on Edd’s sofa, wrapped up in ten blankets and with a laptop sitting atop the Matt-burrito.

“Um guys. This is kind of excessive, don’t you think?”

“Nonsense!” Edd chirped over the radio. Matt had a clear view of him, alongside Tom and Tord in the kitchen.

Surgical masks, rubber gloves, and all.

“Careful,” Tom not-so-quietly-whispered. “We mustn’t let the _infected_ get too close.”

“You know I can hear you right? You’re literally in the next room.”

“ **SILENCE ZOMBIE**!”

Matt let out a whine as a radio flew through the air, landing on his stomach. Luckily with the blankets’ acting as padding, it didn’t really hurt.

“Real mature of you guys. I’m sitting here, DYING for all you know, and all you can do is make jokes. You know what- I hope I turn into a zombie. I hope I become a leader of like- like- an _ARMY_ of zombies, and then I’ll show _you_.”

“You know,” Edd hummed, “that gives me an idea for an animation. Hold on-”

Matt huffed as he heard the sound of pencil scratchings. Once Edd was in his zone, there was no stopping him. Tom too. Well, he decided to make the most of his time anyway.

Worming his arms out of their woolen jail (a feat proven more difficult then anticipated), he opened up the laptop next to him. His mind wandered back to what that Patryck person had said the other day.

Opening up the search engine, Goggle, he typed in the word, “hanahaki”. The first results all immediately read, “hanahaki disease”.

“Well doesn’t _that_ sound promising,” Matt grumbled as he clicked on the first link - some fandom website.

He couldn’t help but grow anxious as he read the site’s contents. A fictional disease? It didn’t exactly _feel_ fictional to him. The coughing up flower petals part seemed pretty accurate nonetheless. And well, it was the only reasonable explanation for all the crazy shit that was happening. However…

‘Unrequited love? That can’t be right,’ he mused. 'I don’t love anyone though. At least…I don’t _think_ I do?’ He tried to think back to when he’d first started experiencing the symptoms.

Well, last week he had kind of an itchy throat when he and Tord were at the cinema. And when Tord invited him over for dinner, he had heartburn (or what felt like heartburn at the time) after, even though he was normally fine with Tord’s cooking. And when Tord was talking about that girl he liked the other day, and Matt got a terrible ache, and his stomach got all twisty and he just couldn’t explain why-

Wait.

No

_**NO** _

_There was **NO** way._

But…..even now, he’d only started coughing up the petals when he was talking to Tord.

So….did that mean…that he….had feelings for _Tor_ -

“What’s a 'hanahaki’?”

Matt let out a very undignified man-shriek at the way-too-familiar voice over his shoulder, slamming the laptop shut. “NOTHING, IT’S NOTHING!”

Tord raised a brow. “It sounds Japanese. Is it hentai? Aw c'mon man you know you gotta tell me if it’s hentai.”

“It’s not hentai,” Matt huffed, cheeks still tinted pink. “What do you want anyway? Thought you were busy plotting my demise with Edd and Tom.”

“Ppsh nah,” Tord sat down next to Matt. “You know what those two are like, can’t stop them when they’re ' _in the animating mood_ ’, and if you do it’s all ' _tord shut up why are you like this if you dont leave within 2 seconds i will LITERALLY shove this cheese grater up your ass_ ’”, he shifted onto a cushion.

“Yikes,” Matt snorted. “It’s your own fault anyway. Karma for making fun of me.”

Tord stuck out his tongue.

“Very mature.” Matt replied.

“Coming from the guy who forced me to spend the entirety of my weekend crafting puppets out of my socks because, and I quote, 'f _uck your schedule_ ’”.

Matt grinned. “Listen, you loved The Saga of Sockrates as much as I did.”

Tord snickered and Matt felt something flutter in his chest.

“Ah, good times. But seriously,” Tord looked at him. “Are you okay? I mean that must be a pretty nasty cough. And you just ran away when I tried to ask about it earlier…”

“Oh.” Matt’s face dropped. “I just didn’t want you to worry is all.”

Tord feigned shock in dramatic fashion, “Matt, caring about anyone other then himself??! I think I’m gonna faint-”

“You’re right,” Matt replied dryly. “I guess I just love you _so_ much.” He ignored the way his heart pounded as he said that.

Tord looked at him, before flashing a devilish smirk that made him feel _all kinds of wrong_.

“Mattie loves me, he really really loves me~” he sang, leaning in close, and pressing himself against the ginger.

“Get off Tord, I’m still sick you know.”

“Aw but I just love my little Mattie-pie so much!”

“Tord- seriously, you’re heavy- _ack_!” Tord continued pressing against Matt until they tumbled off the sofa, Matt landing on the floor, Tord atop of him.

“Tord, I mean it,” Matt growled, face flushed as he tried to pretend that what was happening was most definitely not happening. “You weigh a TON.”

“ _Idontcare_ ”, was the muffled reply he recieved, as Tord buried his face in his chest, seeming to increase another ten pounds. Matt gave up, dropping his arms to his sides. Slowly, he closed his eyes and sighed.

Maybe…this wasn’t so bad.

**_“GAYYYYYYYY”_ **

His eyes snapped open.

There he saw Edd holding a camera above his face, with Tom snickering behind him. “R18, MATT AND TORD GET FRISKY ON EDD’S LIVING ROOM FLOOR. (GONE SEXUAL) (GONE WRONG)”

Matt, in a bout of effort, shoved Tord off of him, scrambling to his feet. He dived towards the green-hoodied brunette, who managed to dodge out of the way.

“ _GIVE ME THAT_!”

“ _NO CAN DO MATTHEW, WE HAVE FANS TO SERVICE_.”

Tom slid next to Tord, who was watching the exchange with amusement (not that it was overly present on his face).

“You two sure get along well, huh?”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Tord replied.

“Listen commie,” Tom shifted next to him. “Don’t even _think_ about messing with Matt. You know what he’s like. If you hurt him, I swear to god-”

“Calm down Pineapple head. I’m not doing shit. And don’t think I don’t see how you feel about Edd.”

“…shut up.”

“That’s what I thought.”

Tord looked over at Matt, who was currently assulting Edd with a pillow.

“ _Hope he gets well soon_.”

-

He was leaving.

Tord was leaving them _._

Leaving _him._

Matt looked at himself in the mirror, tracing the slightly faded strip of pink tissue across his chest. He didn’t understand. He’d had the operation, just like the website said. He’d even travelled to some sketchy underground surgeon halfway across the globe, so why-?

_It hurt._

_God did it **hurt**._

It hurt more then the pain of just losing a 'friend’ hurt.

They had swam through these past years together, walking the line between not quite friends and not quite lovers. The grey zone where their thoughts were had and acknowledged, yet never spoken aloud. Where a single action had spoken a thousand words. Simple flirting, that’s all it was. Nothing more and nothing less.

They’d kissed once.

He couldn’t have feelings for Tord. Not _real_ feelings. Those left the same day as his disease so then-

_Why were there still petals on the sink?_

Matt slowly lifted himself up, wiping streaks of crimson from the corners of his mouth.

“C'mon Matt, you’ve been in there for 20 minutes!” A knock sounded from the door, and Tom’s voice. “If you’re really feeling bad you need to go to a doctor.”

Matt stared at his reflection, its skin pale, eyes bloodshot, and hair matted.

“I…I’m fine,” he called back. “Be out in a minute.”

He rubbed his throat.

This would blow over with Tord’s departure.

It had to.

It just did.

 

-

 

The man lowered the object in his hand. Wait-

_What was he doing here again?_

Three other men, seemingly his age stood around him. The one clad in a red hoodie waved goodbye to them.

“Well, goodbye old friends.”

Was he….supposed to _know_ him?

He watched him leave, confusion written across his face. Eventually, the blue one went inside, with the green one following soon after. He paused just at the door.

“C'mon Matt, come inside before your cold gets worse.”

_Huh?_

The man- _Matt_ , he supposed he was called- felt his chest.

He felt fine.

He paused as he was about to go in, spying a red rose on the ground, it’s petals scattered across the green. Something inside his chest throbbed, like the feeling he was forgetting something, something wonderful and important and sad.

He shut the door.

The petals blew away.

**Author's Note:**

> yeah i wasn't kidding about the writing wheeze.  
> I've already promised myself to finish this, but idk when updates will arrive. Soon, hopefully. Maybe. I know how it'll end, it's just a matter of getting there. and my ass aint gonna rest before i dump a shit load of angst and "plot" too lmao. (here i am talking like there's even that much content lmao) i have ideas, just never the motivation to write haha. Leave thoughts anyway! p blea se
> 
> Have a lovely day~


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